The New Model

Mobile app development company Metova starts on shoestring, stays focused and flexible

Published June 13, 2012 by
J.R. Lind

If there’s one thing Metova proves, it’s that with the right idea and the right service, a tech company can make it without venture capital.

On average, tech start-ups launch with nearly 70 percent of their investment coming from VC. For Metova’s Kevin Ross, his original $8,000 investment came from a credit card.

In tech, bootstrapping is unusual, unconventional and risky. The New York Times reported that bootstrapped tech companies often fail simply because their VC-backed competitors force them out of the market with their millions.

But for Metova, it’s a strategy that has worked and is still working.

“Our competitors have a lot of VC behind them,” he said. “They are in the position of being forced to grow. We don’t have that pressure.”

But grow Metova has. From that initial $8,000 charge, the Cool Springs company has evolved — in fewer than six years — into one of the top bespoke mobile app developers in the world.

An advantage of such a small seed? Astronomical growth.

During the past three years, the company has grown 689 percent and with that number, cracked Inc.’s Top 500 list of fastest growing companies in America in 2011.

With the ability to develop apps on all the top mobile platforms — iOS, Android and Windows 7 — Metova h